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EPA's CTS Expenses

Updated: Friday, August 2 2013, 10:22 PM EDTMembers of a citizens group say the EPA has wasted millions of taxpayers dollars on a hazardous waste site in South Asheville. The EPA established the citizens advisory group back in 2010. Members of that group have been fighting for years to get someone to clean up the former CTS electroplating plant on Mills Gap Road.

The North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the EPA say the company dumped toxic material on the site for years into a collection pond. Some of the contaminants include Trichloroethylene or TCE, a substance known to cause cancer. They also found homeowner's wells in the area were contaminated with TCE and other chemicals from the plant. Residents with contaminated wells were placed on city water.

The citizens advisory group recently obtained EPA expense documents through a freedom of information act request. Members say they show more than 8 and a half million dollars have been spent on the site, mostly on salaries and lab expenses. They say despite all the spending the site remains a toxic waste site that continues to spew toxic chemicals into wells, streams and the air. Vice President Tate MacQueen says, "the estimated cost to dig up the contaminants and remove them back in 2004 was just 5 and a half million dollars." He says they're hoping taxpayers will say enough and demand congressional hearings into the EPA's handling of the site.